60 years since the defeat of the outlawing of the Communist Party.

It is now sixty years since the victory of the people against the most vicious attack on civil rights ever made by an Australian government. Menzies and his Liberal government proposed a referendum that would have banned membership of the Communist Party, made it a criminal offence. At first it appeared as if this referendum would get up easily, but fortunately, wide sectors of the community realised that this issue was about more than simply sticking it to the reds. This was an attack on everybody, this bill would have given Menzies (a man who had expressed sympathy for Hitler as late as 1938, some food for thought) the power to essentially outlaw any association or grouping he saw as subversive. Wide sections of the community mobilized into the broadest united front possibly ever seen in Australia, and in the end the bill was narrowly defeated. In the face of current attacks on fundamental democratic rights in Australia, through bodies such as the ABCC and with issues facing us such as the ever increasing imperialist domination of our 'democracy', there are many lessons to be learnt from the work of communists within this united front, and how it relates to our experience today. All Australian  Marxist-Leninists should take this opportunity to reflect upon the experiences of 1951, and think about what lessons can be gained from this. One of the ideas that flows out of this is that we need to establish the broadest unity we possibly can, beginning amongst ourselves. We nee to work closer on the issues that unite us, and focus on these, not the questions and issues that divide us.